The following adaptation, titled A Touch of Maya , was given by Baba and used as the basis for several screenplays:
First life, cast of characters:
X : Cannibal man who wins the woman; Y : Cannibal woman; Z : Jealous cannibal man who is killed.
Cannibals are eating a corpse around a fire in a jungle. One man, X , catches the eye of a young woman, Y . They smile at one another and he throws her a tasty piece of flesh. She eats it. Another man, Z , is jealous and a fight ensues between the two men. X wins and kills Z .
Second life, cast:
Z : The murdered cannibal is now a cruel king; X : The lover of the cannibal woman is now a foreigner; Y : The cannibal woman becomes the cruel king's wife who pities X and asks her husband to spare him.
A great but cruel king, Z , is reigning in Turkey; he kills all foreigners who fall into his hands. X , a Persian, is captured by the king and is tortured: he is bound to a tree and lashed; pins are thrust down his fingernails; he is hanged upside down while the soles of his feet are lashed.
The king's wife, Y , pities the Persian fellow and asks her husband to forgive X for her sake. Z loves his wife greatly and forgives X , who then becomes a court favorite. Eventually, Queen Y falls in love with the foreigner. The king discovers this and kills them both.
Third life, cast:
Y : The queen killed by her husband now is an honest merchant in China; Z : The cruel king is now the merchant's son, a profligate; X : The foreigner and queen's lover is now the merchant's wife who loves her son.
Y , a merchant in China and his wife, X , have three daughters and one son. They are millionaires and live lavishly. The merchant is very honest. However, his son, Z , is a corrupt rogue, interested only in drink and drugs. Secretly, he uses his father's money to his own advantage. Z forges Y 's check for a large amount, and Y comes to know about it. Instead of helping his son, Y imprisons him.
The merchant's wife, X , loves Z and sorrows deeply. Gradually, she pines away. Soon Y , the merchant, becomes disgusted with his life and dies. Z suffers much in prison, and after being freed, he leads a good life and repents. He dies in peace.